Everything Stays
by AsuraHeterodyne
Summary: After waiting for so long, Marinette gave Adrien her blessing. Ladybug and Adrien move on. Written the day after Season 3 Finale Part 1 came out. Spoilers for that episode abound. May not be accurate to the Finale Part 2 episode, since it hasn't come out yet. Marinette x Luka, Adrien x Kagami


**Author's Note:**

**This friggin story idea woke me up at 3 am. It's now 5:27 am. My alarm will go off in 3 minutes. **

**Sigh. I suppose it's time to go to school and do some differential equations. Math on 3 hours of sleep is always… an experience. **

**For maximum reading experience, I recommend listening to **_**Everything Stays**_ **from Adventure Time. Y'know, otherwise the titles of each scene makes no sense. This is supposed to be like the written version of a montage, with that song playing in the background. **

**And, fair warning, this is not an Adrien/Marinette ship fic. I'm really fed up with the writers jerking us around on that. Oh, and **

_***Spoiler warning***_

**I suppose? I think most of this is centered on the Season 3 Finale part 1? I'm too addled to remember. Who cares about spoilers in this series anyway? The show spoils itself what with the absolutely incomprehensible airing order. Plus, since when does this show have the cajones to actually change the status quo? There's never anything worth spoiling anyway. **

**That was mean. Sorry I'm a grumpy gus. **

**I hope you find this as important as my brain apparently did. **

**I own nothing.**

_**Let's go in the garden**_

Marinette made her choice. She chose peppermint and orange. Adrien and Kagami. They were good for each other. She couldn't deny her friends some happiness. She knew this was the right choice. So why did she feel like she had a ragged hole in her chest?

Luka, kind and understanding as ever, was there for her when she finally burst. She cried as she had never dared to in the past months. She sobbed uncontrollably into Lukas shirt. She made a spectacle of herself right there in the street.

She marveled at the way her body cried. She was no longer feeling any of it. It was a strange sensation to know you were in so much emotional pain, to feel the evidence of it in great hitching sobs and yet not feel any of it. She was glad. It hurt so much a second ago. She patiently watched herself cry until she couldn't anymore. Then she simply stared, sightless, into his shirt.

_**You'll find something waiting**_

Adrien was surprised when Kagami kissed him. Her lips felt nice.

He knew she wasn't ladybug. But ladybug loved another. He'd given her so many chances. He'd confessed to her so many times. He'd waited so long for her to change her mind. This was not betrayal. He couldn't keep chasing after someone he could never have.

Tentatively, his arms wrapped around her, and he kissed back.

She's not Ladybug. But she's here. She's intelligent, he relates so much to her, and he enjoys spending time with her.

Now that he allowed himself to let go, a giddy joy bloomed in his chest. He wanted to crow with the joy of knowing that he liked Kagami, _and she likes him back_.

It felt good to have his feelings reciprocated. Like a great weight lifted from him.

_**Right there where you left it lying upside down**_

Marinette started talking. She talked to Luka about what she could. About how she loved Adrien. How she had just given him up. How he and Kagami were so happy together. How she was happy to see them happy together.

She talked about how sad she was. How hard lying to everyone was. The strain of lying, and the strain of school, and friends, and boys, and… everything was tearing her apart.

It felt good to let go. If only a little. She still had to keep her secrets after all.

But Luka was there. Warm, and sympathetic. They were in his bedroom, the door open per his mom's request.

Normally she would be blushing and scandalized to be laying on a boy's bed with him- even if they were fully clothed and had no intention of doing anything… untoward.

But she was too tired to care right now.

When she talked herself out, she slept for awhile in the crook of his arm. Tired and wrung out from the day.

As she slept, she heard him humming to himself. The notes of her song morphing, intertwined with another melody.

She drifted lazily in and out of consciousness. She felt… content. Like a bubble of calm spread from Luka and enveloped her. She hadn't felt calm in a long time.

_**When you finally find it, you'll see how it's faded**_

"Hey kitty."

"Hi Ladybug"

"Not 'bugaboo'?"

"I thought you hated that."

"I do. It's just strange not to hear some endearment from you. What happened?"

"I found someone else."

Chat sat, watching the sunset. It was beautiful. He felt Ladybug sitting next to him. Apparently he really had let go, the side facing her wasn't buzzing with electric awareness of her. It was as if he'd lost a sixth sense. He didn't know whether he should mourn the loss.

"Ah. I'm… I'm glad to hear it."

Ladybug seemed to hesitate.

"The boy I loved never loved me. I saw him happy with another girl, and I gave them my blessing. And… I'd been feeling something for another boy for awhile, and he was there when I needed him. I feel so… calm when he's around. He grounds me."

Why was she telling him this?

"So I'm glad you moved on. It feels good to move on, I think."

A spark of anger that he'd been passed over again when Ladybug had been looking for love flared. But it died quickly when he remembered Kagami. He really did like her. He wouldn't know what he would do if Ladybug had given him a chance just when he'd let go. It would've been a cruel joke.

He was glad it ended like this.

"So, what's she like?"

_**The underside is lighter when you turn it around**_

Ladybug actually enjoyed talking to Chat now that he'd found a new lady love. The awkwardness between them had melted away.

Chat mellowed. He still loved puns, he was still animated and larger than life, but he lost his casanova facade. He still teased, but now he was like a brother, not a flirting suitor.

They commiserate a lot about what it was like hiding their powers. It was nice to have someone to talk to who knew what it was like living a double life. They shared funny stories about the dumbest excuses they had to make up to go transform. They shared stories about the most inopportune times they'd had to transform.

They laughed together a lot more.

Marinette was so glad it turned out this way. If they'd ever tried to date, she would've likely not seen this calm side of him. He would still be stumbling through that silly courtship bravado. She liked the real Chat better.

_**Everything stays right where you left it**_

Luka and Marinette were almost inseparable. They were just so… comfortable around each other. This was a change from what Alya was expecting, but it wasn't a bad change.

Marinette was able to talk to Adrien without all the nervousness. And she seemed to be genuinely happy, even when Adrien's hands interlaced with Kagami's.

So many couples! Herself and Nino, Mylene and Ivan, Rose and Juleka, and the newest pairs: Adrien and Kagami, and Marinette and Luka.

The betting pool on when Mari would finally ask Adrien out would have to be paid out. Kim was the only one that had bet against those two getting together. At the time, Alya had just seen Kim as his usual socially clueless self, but he'd turned out to be right.

Ah well, she was glad to see those four happy.

_**Everything stays**_

_**But it still changes**_

"Grand-niece,"

"Grand-uncle Fu!"

He looked so frail in the hospital bed. Marinette knew he was over 200 years old, but he'd never seemed like it before.

"Dearest grand-niece, adjust my blankets for me?"

As she leaned over to adjust his blankets, she paused. Her ear was near his lips, and her head blocked most attempts to lip-read.

"He has the bee miraculous. I managed to run away with the rest and hide them, but I had dropped the bee miraculous by mistake. "

Marinette's face paled.

"Grand-uncle, are you sure you won't be able to walk again?"

It was a somewhat lame cover for her stricken reaction. She gave herself time to think by going over to his chart and pretending to check his status.

Several broken bones, including a broken hip… actually, her cover might not have been so far off.

"They tell me that with enough physical therapy, I will be able to use a walker, perhaps a cane. But they don't seem optimistic."

She gave him a fierce hug, the tears in her eyes were real. Her head was beside his again.

"They're behind the dumpster at my shop. You are the Guardian now."

Marinette pulled away, dumbstruck.

"But, I should have done better by you. I should've been with you when you fell! Why are you still so kind to me when I failed you so completely?"

Master Fu glanced around the room. He knew there were cameras but he wished he knew where.

"Because I have made mistakes. This was only a matter of time. You are worthy of kindness my dear grand-niece. Now, run along and be sure your cousin comes and visits me when I am discharged. Maybe some pictures of his cat would cheer me up. I can never remember my Facebook password, so I can't see the pictures online."

Okay, that was probably an obfuscated way to say "tell Chat to visit me after in out of the hospital".

_**Ever so slightly, daily and nightly**_

_**In little ways, when everything stays**_

"We need to look for Hawkmoth in earnest."

"After all that's happened, yeah. I think I dropped the ball here."

"_We _dropped the ball, Ladybug."

"Thanks Chat"

They stared in silence, processing.

"I have a friend who is a massive computer whiz. He may be able to help us hack into surveillance cams to see where these butterflies are coming from" Ladybug said.

"Remember that crazy reporter girl who used to chase us around? I'm sure we can get her to start a social media campaign that will gather even more data for your computer whiz to process" Chat said.

"These butterflies must be coming from somewhere. Do we know anyone who specializes in butterflies?"

Bit by bit, they developed a plan. This time, it wasn't just the superheroes that would save the day. Paris would save itself, and they would facilitate it.


End file.
